Book title: Morgane, Starlette américaine Author: Annie Lavigne Getting in context: Morgane is a French girl who, with her best friend, came to America to find freedom. They meet an American boy, James, who tell them that America's democracy is not exactly what they were thinking...
James is connecting totalitarianism to the situation they are presently living in the States, and he is right about it too. Now, I am not an American citizen, and neither is the author of this book, so I have no idea of how if must feel to be an American. But with those few lines I can get a basic idea of their current situation. Even though the United States says it represents ideas of rights and freedom and all that, it really isn't. James may be exaggerating about the fact that the States might become totalitarian, but he is trying to get a point across. And what better way to make a statement than to reference 1984, THE most totalitarian book ever?
I think that James is right because, well, here's why: The Thirteen Colonies fought to be free from Great Britain, which caused the American Revolution. They have succeeded in getting free, and it became a democracy. Now we have many new things like technology, which would make the people more dependent, right? In a way, yes, because people have the liberty of doing what they want. They can express their opinions, they can enjoy watching videos of other people expressing their opinions, they can get all the answers to their questions in a matter of seconds... But more technology also means that more control from the government. There is a lot of censorship and supervising systems. Take for example security cameras. With those, any criminal can be caught, yes, but that also means that people have a lot less freedom. "The freedom of Americans being threatened" said James, and if he is right, then the system ha chances of becoming totalitarian. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but in many years from now. Ever heard of "Uncle Sam Wants You for the U.S. Army"? Kinda makes me think of "Big Brother is Watching You". Uncle Sam is a personification of the U.S. government that is often used. It would come from a man named Samuel Wilson, a meat packer during the war of 1812. Anyway, my point is that this poster was used to get people join in the U.S. army to fight the war. In a way, it could be considered as propaganda because the government is trying to get people to do something. "Big Brother is Watching You" has a similar function, except that the government threatens the population about what they are doing.
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